Advanced Positioning and Position Synchronisation: An overview of the main concepts and examples of implementation at the ESRF

The successive ESRF upgrades have pushed, and are pushing, towards smaller and more intense beam light probes. To be able to exploit smaller beams, the instrumentation positioning needs have evolved, along with resolution, stability and repeatability figures that lie on the nanometre scale. On the other hand, the increased intensity of the beams allows for shorter acquisition times, and continuous acquisition scanning techniques help to reduce the duration of an experiment.

The aim this talk is to give an overview of the main positioning concepts and techniques, the different actuators and position sensors, and to show their application with some examples of instrumentation designed for the ESRF beamlines.